Director: David France.
Running Time: 109 minutes.
Synopsis: In the face of minimal medical and government support, the activist group ACT UP push for, against opposition from political, religious and corporate entities, greater action in the research to deal with the escalating AIDS epidemic.
Told primarily with the focus on activist Peter Staley, but obviously telling the story of the millions who were affected, HOW TO SURVIVE A PLAGUE is a film not only about the AIDS epidemic that affected so many Americans in the 1980s and 90s but also a film about power. The power of suppression, the power of social activism and the power of change when a group of people band together under a common goal.
The directorial debut of David France, a wealth of camcorder footage taken from rallies, protests, meetings and interviews (spliced together with some original interviews and graphics) chart the rise of activist group ACT UP as they campaigned for the US government and drug companies to take action against the rising AIDS epidemic. Considering the essentially amateur source of the majority of the film’s material, we see everything we need to from shouting down of public officials to archive TV appearances from Staley and it’s brought together brilliantly, already garnering France an Academy Award nomination at the last awards.
Starting in 1987 we have a counter of AIDS related deaths at the end of each year until 1996 meaning we’re constantly reminded of the escalating nature of the problem. And what a problem it is. Of course, trying to eliminate AIDS isn’t going to be a small task, but the film smacks you in the opening minutes with just how poorly cared for AIDS victims were and shows how a diagnosis was practically a death sentence. We are dropped into a world that many of us can’t relate to (and thankfully doesn’t exist anymore) but we are never left behind as interviews with scientists and pharmaceutical workers keep us up to speed as ACT UP are forced to become the experts they hoped to turn to.
What follows is a deeply emotional journey that balances the personal with the populace. When we first hear from Peter Staley he is working on Wall Street and seeing the first ACT UP protest outside his own place of work sparks him to not only join them, but become one of its pivotal activists. Others such as Bob Rafsky, Larry Kramer and Iris Long provide not only great interviews but powerful moments that make the film almost cinematic. Perhaps the film’s iconic moment sees Kramer erupt, calling out “forty million infected people is a fucking plague” in a scene where no actor could do enough justice if it was dramatised.
While HOW TO SURVIVE A PLAGUE’s message is not explicitly uplifting, it is just as relevant now (amid the working class suffering through the economic crisis) as it would be if it was made post-epidemic. It’s pure, grass-roots activism that refuses to back down, never goes too far, picks itself up when evitable rifts form and inspires us to, in an age now obsessed with communication, do what a group of people achieved when no-one wanted to listen. A powerful film that you shouldn’t miss.
HOW TO SURVIVE A PLAGUE is released in UK cinemas on Friday November 8th.
